Been thinking about the best ways to convey medium to large amounts of information in a movies run time that isnt just unveiled bit by bit over the entire span of a movie. so what are some of the better (or favorite) ways a movie has done an exposition dump? what are some of the worse? from beginning movie montages, to the classic news paper clipping clip show, backround characters coming into sound and providing random information. what do you prefer?

Starting up a movie you find only slightly interesting, and a wall of text starts scrolling down the screen…

Casino

Inception

what element of the exposition did you find pleasing compared to other forms?

have STILL never seen casino.....i feel like im missing out on an experience

It’s my favorite movie

'I'M THE SPY!'

Oh nvm I only read the thread title lol

lmao all good

i see so many ppl make reference to it. might have to do that this weekend

But to somewhat answer your question, I truly believe the "show, don't tell" approach is the best when informing the audience. Obviously there are certain things that can only be communicated via dialog, but it should only be used when necessary. Semi-related, but I hate it when movies treat the audience like idiots unable to connect dots.

"Somehow...Palpatine returned"

Tenet = worst

was it the sporadic nature of the exposition or that it was just an uninteresting story

I think The Big Short for the subject matter they had to work with did exposition in a unique way

fresh in my mind from the re-release but in terms of hollywood blockbusters, avatar has some goat first act exposition. the speed and nature in which it introduces you to the world, technology, characters, rules, mission etc is so organic and fun

Lmao was literally thinking about this yesterday

When someone asks a question and the other person goes "I'm not gonna explain it again, (then goes on to explain it in great detail)"

Usually in found footage movies lol

every time a movie opens with a quote or bible verse or something im like "yep, im gonna remember this two hours from now!" and never do

i remember liking it but cant remember the exact method rn

"Somehow, the emperor returned"

truuuue. pacing when doing a big expodump like that is pretty important

For Best:

Would’ve been funny if it was just this but they kept doing

You’re supposed to understand it immediately
It’s like code